Where can I donate used items?

Two of the largest organizations include Goodwill and The Salvation Army. Both have hundreds of national drop-off locations. Any locally run and organized thrift stores in your area are likely to accept donations of gently used items. (Thrift stores may or may not give the proceeds to charity; if that’s important to you, find one that’s attached to a cause, like a youth ranch or hospital.)

How will my donation help the community?

The Salvation Army’s thrift stores focus on adult rehabilitation. The items you donate will be sold to the community, and the proceeds will go to their rehabilitation centers, which focus on work therapy and life skills. In addition, Salvation Army staff is typically part of the rehabilitation program as well. As you choose which donation path is right for you, be aware that the Salvation Army does have religious affiliations, and the rehab program includes Christian spiritual counseling.

Goodwill focuses on education and career services for disadvantaged adults. Like The Salvation Army, the proceeds go to job training and education for adults, and the stores themselves provide work opportunities for community members. A large portion of this organization’s focus is on strengthening families and financial education is a component of that. Goodwill Industries does not have any religious affiliation.

Specialized donation groups or thrift stores will have other methods of giving back to the community. You can ask them where the proceeds go, and you can also ask what percentage of proceeds are donated when making your choice.

How much can I write off without a receipt?

Up to $500 worth of material goods can be deducted without a receipt. Go over $500, and you’ll need a receipt to file along with Form 8283. Go over $5,000 and you’ll need to get the item or items professionally appraised to qualify for a tax write-off.

Bankrate’s tax valuation guide can give you a rough estimate of the value of donated items, and most tax prep software includes this feature as well.

How do I get a receipt?

First, make sure the charity is registered as a 501(c)(3) with the IRS. The IRS also lets you search for eligible charities online. You’ll also need to have established a reasonable value for the items donated based on their condition.

For tax purposes (and for the purposes of being a good person), only “good” and “better” condition items are appropriate to donate. Again, the organization you donate to won’t set the value; that’s up to you. They simply sign off on the number and type of items donated. Some organizations will automatically give you a receipt, while you’ll need to specifically request it at others. If you want the write-off, the burden is on you to take the necessary steps. It’s not hard, it just takes some advanced prep.

How do I find local resources?

Try Excess Access. This website does require you to sign up and pay a minimal fee ($5 annually), but you’ll get to enter what you have available and get matched up with local non-profits that have created wish lists. This is a cool resource for large more unusual items.

I don’t care about taxes. Any other options that will help folks in the area?

Absolutely! Try FreeCycle.org. You can join a local group or create one. Then, when you’ve got something to give away, simply post it on the message boards. Set a time for the interested party to pick up your stuff, and that’s it. You don’t even have to leave the house. Please be sure to read FreeCycle’s cautions and limitations, though, and be safe.

Are there any specialty organizations I can give to?

Call to Protect distributes cell phones to victims of domestic violence as safety lifelines.

The National Cristina Foundation takes donations of tecnology, particularly computers, and distributes to educational and job training programs throughout the US and internationally.

How can I find out if a charity is legit?

The Better Business Bureau has a great deal of info on charities. You can inquire about a specific charity or check out their Wise Giving Guide. Just click the “For Charities and Donors” link.

If you have any additional tips or groups to add, please drop into the comments and let everyone know!

Granted, each of those activities have their place, but we’ve turned what used to be less than desirable ventures and some flat-out questionable practices into glamorous businesses that “Can Make YOU the Next Millionaire!” What in the world is going on? Whatever happened to working hard and saving money by living beneath your means? Whatever happened to the cornerstone’s of our economy?

I have to admit, I’ve fallen for it too. Back about 20 years ago I fell into the get-rich-quick through multi-level marketing trap. I fell hard, too. I “invested” money I didn’t have into a multi-level marketing venture that put me deep into credit card debt. “After all,” I reasoned, “I’ll make extra money and be rich in less than a year and can pay it all off.” Umm, no. Not only that, but it severely distracted me from finishing college, a move I’ve regretted ever since. No one bailed me out of MY bad decisions. I could just taste my success, but it turned bitter in the end.

Nowadays, we have big time CEO’s of banks, and automakers, and who knows who else, begging for tax dollars because of their own stupid mistakes. They over extended themselves, depended on credit, and They failed to make wise decisions, smart decisions, or even common sense decisions and instead chose the quick and easy decision and now they want a bailout. It seems that a huge chunk of our economic system is predicated on pulling the wool over someone’s eyes. Does anyone other than me realize that the IRS only takes in about $225 billion per month? With a $700 billion bailout, we will spend about 3 months worth of the Federal government’s gross collections! Can we keep this up? Bailout spending is out of control!

What we need in this country is an integrity bailout. We need a great big bucket of ethics and integrity poured out all over us. It’s high time we return to the values our grandparents and great grandparents taught us. Things like:

1. Hard work - making the choice to build or add value to something or someone rather than try to benefit from another person’s poor decisions. If we return to our roots of innovation and creativity, we can build real, lasting wealth.

2. Ethics - doing what’s right even when it doesn’t benefit us instead of claiming that certain actions are “standard operating procedure.” What would our country look like if we returned to integrity, honesty, and and genuine care for the next generation?

3. Patience - there is really VERY LITTLE you or I “need” right NOW. Learning to wait creates character. I can remember my grandmother teaching me to “just wait.”

4. Learn to do without - depriving yourself of every “want” that pops in your head is a smart move. Wants have their place: they can motivate and inspire, but to constantly satisfy them reduces their meaning.

5. Buy value rather than appearance - too many items have a thin veneer of quality but underneath are just cheap cardboard. We’re satisfied with fake furniture, plastic chrome, disposable this, replaceable that, so long as it’s cheap. I wonder if we would recognize quality if it stood in front of us and help up a sign.

6. Quality of time at work, quantity of time at home - by giving your employer your best, but giving your family the bulk of your time, you’ll be able to satisfy the employer’s needs for production, but your family’s need to spend time with YOU.

7. Self Sufficiency - we used to make things happen for ourselves. Today, it’s accepted practice to allow someone else to do all the heavy lifting. I can still remember my grandparents working in a garden, canning their vegetables and making sure there would be food available in the winter. What a concept.

I think if we were to look back, we’d realize that grandpa really did know best. Hard work, integrity, family. Those are the values we should all support and emulate.

Technorati Tags: bailout, handout, money, finance, finances, financial, waste, beg, integrity, ethics

photo credit: Digital Sextant

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All you do is click the link and you’ll be taken to the Restaurant.com site. There, you enter your zip code and see what restaurants participate and what deals are available. What I personally like about it, is that there usually are local restaurants, not the big chains. I prefer to enjoy the flavor of a local establishment myself.

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As the economy continues to remain unstable, it seems for many that all four walls are starting to crumble. Facing more struggles paying bills, worries about job loss, and even concerns about day to day survival are now topics familiar to the average family. While there are still plenty of people who manage okay and are able to maintain a good credit rating, it still may not be good enough anymore to just be “good”.

In the days of old, credit cards used to be relatively easy to apply for and obtain. Now, the application process of a new credit card is much less guaranteed. For many reasons, namely risk on behalf of the credit card companies, a consumer must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they are credit worthy. This is also true in the many other lender industries, including mortgages. A few years ago, 720 was considered to be an excellent credit score. At this point, lenders want to verify a 740 or better before they may be willing to grant you a line of credit.

In addition to your credit score and solid history of paying your bills on time, ALL of your bills, a lender may also take into strong consideration the type of work you do, as listed on your application. If you are working in an industry such as mortgage brokering, which is currently standing on shaky ground, your lender may not be so quick to give approval. Not many consumers may consider that lenders even looked at the information listed on a credit card applications much beyond the pulling of the credit reports.

You probably can’t change your job just to get a credit card but there are other things you can do to ensure credit card companies and other lenders see fit to approve your application for credit. Here is a reminder list to keep you in good standing and credit worthy, even during the current credit crisis.

1. Analyze Your Current Credit Worthiness
   If you are contemplating a switch to a new credit card company to avoid increased interest rates or to consolidate card balances, make sure you first have the most accurate information on your credit report before starting any application. Order your credit reports with score and seek out any mistakes. If you find incorrect information, follow procedure to resolve the issues.
2. Continue On-Time/More-Than-the-Minimum Payments Each Month
   Even if you struggle, make it a priority to pay your credit card balances each month until you can consolidate and transfer balances onto one card. If you fail to make an on-time payment or miss a payment entirely, your lender will likely jack up your interest rate immediately, leaving you drowning in even more debt. As for minimum payments, forget them. Always tack on at least $10 extra each month to pay down the balance.
3. Be Wary of Account Closures
   Some card companies will close your cards for inactivity. You have to be careful with this situation, as too many closed accounts can negatively affect your credit score. Closed accounts will decrease your debt-to-credit ratio which will drop points in your credit rating.
4. Read and Understand Credit Card Changes
   Credit card lenders are changing the rules. They are raising interest rates, even when you technically don’t do anything wrong. For example, your card’s interest rate can go up just because you paid another one of your bills late. In addition to raised interest rates, your credit card company may also choose to lower your limit of credit. Imagine that scenario happening without your knowledge and you end up charging purchases that put you over the limit. Now you are stuck with the additional fees for going over the limit. Read every piece of mail coming from your credit company. Don’t assume your account will not change from month to month.
5. Deal Straight with the Lender
   If you have been a good customer, chances are good the credit card lender will not want to lose your business. If you are considering a new card to transfer balances, call your current company first and let them know your intentions and what has made you unsatisfied. There is no guarantee the lender will help you out but as a good customer, they will likely work hard to retain your business, as good customers are getting harder to come by.

Tisha Tolar is a freelance writer providing content for CreditCardAssist.com, where she regularly writes about credit cards, rewards programs and general consumer finance issues.

This is an article from My Dollar Plan.

• Ensuring a Good Interest Rate with On-Time Payments
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When I was in elementary school my parents told me it didn’t matter what I did when I grew up, so long as it made me happy. “Happiness is the whole point of life”, my father said. “Your mother loves to help people, so she became a nurse. I love reading, writing and poetry, so I became an English teacher. We both find happiness in the work we do each day.”

A few years later when I was in junior high, my grumpy 6th grade homeroom teacher put me in detention for “being difficult”. She went around the classroom and asked each student what they wanted to be when they grew up. When she got to me, I told her I wanted to be happy. She told me I was missing the whole point of the question. I told her she was missing the whole point of life.

What do we all want to be when we grow up? Happy… that is all. Find what makes you happy and do it until you die.

Photo by: Mareen Fischinger

In one month, the Sound Mind, Sound Mom Book Club begins.

It was not easy selecting the six books for 2009 - there are a lot of great ones out there, and you all suggested so many. In the end, the final decision was based on variety, topics that were broad enough to (hopefully) appeal to many, and books that have held up to scrutiny and review by a wide audience.

The goal was not to find books on which everyone would agree. In fact, a slightly controversial perspective on some topics is a good thing, especially for a book club. We learn from conversation, from hearing another side, and from questioning what we always thought we believed.

But I did want each selection to benefit our jobs as women, moms, and home managers, and I know your time is precious. There’s no need to whittle away your time on silly reading material.

All the links below lead to the books in the Simple Mom Amazon Shop. By purchasing the books through these links (along with any other Amazon purchases), you’ll support this site. This blog being about simple and frugal living, however, I also encourage you to check your local used bookstores and libraries for these titles.

So without further adieu, here are our books for the year.

1. Your Money or Your Life, by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin

• reading dates: January 1 - March 5, 2009
• topic: money management
• pages: 400

review: This has been heralded by many as the classic on personal finance, the foundation for the why behind good stewardship and wise money management. From it stems a rational ideaology for simple and debt-free living. I’ve always wanted to read this, so now I have a good excuse.

2. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, by Barbara Kingsolver

• reading dates: March 19 - May 21, 2009
• topic: food, green and frugal living
• pages: 400

review: For one year, Barbara Kingsolver and her family vowed to only eat food that was raised in their neighborhood or grown in their garden - or they would learn to live without it. The book journals their culinary adventure, and it investigates the many steps in food production. Several of you recommended it, which just sealed the deal in the direction I was already leaning.

3. Last Child In The Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, by Richard Louv

• reading dates: June 4 - July 16, 2009
• topic: kids and parenting
• pages: 390

review: This book was the tipping point in starting an international movement to adopt a Leave No Child Inside initiative in 30 U.S. regions and four different countries. Our kiddos today are increasingly disconnected from the natural world. Not only does nature nurture our kids’ creativity, but nature needs our kids - they’re its future stewards. As an urban dweller who sees far too much concrete on a daily basis, I’m really looking forward to this read.

4. For Women Only: What You Need to Know about the Inner Lives of Men, by Shaunti Feldhahn

• reading dates: July 30 - August 27, 2009
• topic: taking care of yourself, relationships
• pages: 208

review: I read this two summers ago in Thailand, and it took me all of two days. Not only is it a quick and easy read, I just could not put it down. Novelist Shaunti Feldhahn interviewed scores of men as research for her last novel, whose main character was male. She was floored at her findings, so she decided to continue with a professional survey. The survey substantiated every single bit of her previous data, and it also applied to almost all men. I purposely picked a short, easy, fascinating read for the height of the summer, and it should spark some good discussion.

5. It’s All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff, by Peter Walsh

• reading dates: September 10 - October 22, 2009
• topic: organizing, making your home a haven
• pages: 240

review: Peter Walsh is a professional organizer, but his approach deals with both the practical and the psychological issues behind clutter. He attests that people hide behind their clutter, avoiding real issues in their lives by holding on to stuff that’s… well, just stuff. This book’s goal is to help you face a really big question - what is the vision for the life you want to live?

6. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families, by Stephen R. Covey

• reading dates: November 5 - December 10, 2009
• topic: productivity, simplicity
• pages: 390

review: Stephen Covey is the epitome of a self-improvement guru, and his books are international best sellers. This book explains what it means to be an “effective family,” which he sums up with a simple definition - “a beautiful family culture.” He dives into the ideas of writing family mission statements, creating traditions that matter, and making sure that your family time is quality. This should be a great read for the end of the year, when we’re busy with family gatherings and focusing on our unique traditions. It’ll be a great final read.

Anyone is welcome to join the Book Club, parent or not, male or female. It will, however, be geared towards moms, and we’ll apply the books’ topics to home management.

I’m looking forward to hearing what you all think about the selections! More information about the Book Club will be coming soon, so stay tuned.

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5 tips to keep your personal budget flexible and alive

Flexibility is one of the keys to maintaining a healthy budget.  Here are some ideas for keeping your budgeting efforts flexible to keep them alive!

1.  Create a custom budget each month

Your budget or spending plan should be customized for each period.  Sure certain expenses stay the same every month, but some things fluctuate or only occur once in awhile.  Your monthly budget needs to be a living document.  It needs to evolve as life does.

Make sure you take a little time at the beginning of each month to make a list of expected expenses that will occur in the upcoming thirty days.  Also, revaluate the amount you are budgeting in each of your spending categories.  You may need to increase or decrease certain things to more closely match your estimated expenditures.

2.  Don’t be afraid to make mid-month budget adjustments

Continually reevaluate your plan as you proceed through the month.  If necessary, move money from one category to another to make your budget reflect real life.  Our budgets are just plans.  They are not written in stone. 

One budgeting goal is to avoid overspending.  It is important that we are firm in our resolve toward this end, but we need not be rigid about the amount spent in each category.  Move money around to make things work.

Of course, you don’t want to rob your grocery category to make an impulse purchase, but if your electric bill runs a little high, you might need to take some away from your eating out category to cover it.

3.  Create new budget categories when needed

If you have an expense that seems to keep catching you off guard, then create a specific category for it.  I had to do this for children’s activities.  We kept spending money to allow our daughters to participate in extracurricular activities, but we didn’t have money set aside for it.  I kept having to take it out of another category.

This unplanned expense often left us short in another area.  Be sure to capture these expenses and create a category for them.  I’ll even create the category mid-month so that I don’t forget to budget money for it the next month.

4.  Set money aside for personal spending

We all want to feel like we have some individual control over how we spend our resources.  What is important to one person, especially in marriage, may not be a priority for the other.  I think the best way to handle this is by allowing each person a certain amount to spend each month.

Assign each spouse an amount each month that is their money to blow however they want.  It may not be much when you are running your debt snowball, but at least it is something.  The feeling of control will go a long ways toward keeping your budget alive.

5.  Discuss and agree on the monthly budget up front

If you are married, go over the budget with your spouse before the month begins.  Be sure that you are both in agreement and committed to the plan.  This will help avoid sticky situations as the month plays out.

A budget that is created and ratified by only one spouse will feel rigid and restrictive to the other member of the marriage.  You have to work as a team for the budget to succeed over time.  Participation in the process is the best way to achieve buy-in.

A flexible budget is a budget we can live with today and tomorrow

We want our budgeting efforts to succeed.  A great way to keep them alive is to remain flexible.  A plan must change as the situation changes for it to remain viable.  A rigid budget will only create frustration and resentment.  It is of the utmost importance for us to avoid these pitfalls as we budget our money.

What do you do to keep your budget flexible?

Photo by jhull

“A thing is sometimes added to by being diminished and diminished by being added to.” — Tao Te Ching (XLII; 96)

Generally these days, we Americans aren’t too good at moderation. While certain episodes in our national history (frontier settlement, The Great Depression, and the lean times of rationing during WWII) remind us that ours is a heritage of toughness and sacrifice, the modus operandi in our contemporary age of prosperity entails eating, shopping, driving, working, and being entertained — all in excess.

This puts us in stark cultural contrast to other thriving western nations. Take France, whose people work less, vacation more, and enjoy higher rates of personal fitness. Most coffee drinkers in France, heirs to the world’s finest café culture, find the demitasse espresso sufficient for their morning pick-me-up. In the States, on the other hand, we demand triple-shot double-grande caramel macchiatos. And where the French café-goer takes his coffee in cup and saucer because he values sitting as much as sipping, the American gets his grande on the go, the enormous paper cup a product of his perpetual motion (and a wasteful one at that).

We lack moderation not only in our styles of ingestion and consumption, but in our tireless ambition. Success is the holiest deity of our national cult — and our fixation upon success is, of course, good and bad.

I am certainly not without ambitions. Abundant opportunity and good ol’ fashioned bootstrapping self-reliance appeal to me as much as to the next guy. In fact, I’ve spent the last eight years, virtually without pause, in thrall to my own dreams and aspirations. I regret none of that time, and have achieved my own modicum of success — and an even greater deal of fulfillment. Hard work and dogged perseverance certainly have their place.

But recently, while chatting across the back fence with a neighbor about our impending parenthood, my wife and I were the beneficiaries of some lovely (and unconventional) advice: “Lower your expectations.”

With this wise directive our neighbor, a fulltime parent of two youngsters, was encouraging us to be realistic about our own goals once our baby arrived — in other words, to practice moderation in our personal ambitions. Lower expectations, our neighbor advised, would help us “stay sane,” and would keep us in the moment.

The advice, so wonderfully unique, has stayed with me. I’ve long advocated moderation where the dining table, the wallet, the automobile, or the church was concerned. But as for practicing moderation in my vocation, I could do better. I could strive to better balance work and life. I could take care to see that my passion doesn’t become compulsion. And what better time to seek such moderation than during the first months of my first-born’s life, when there’s so much happening that I don’t want to miss?

So I’m working on it. I’m reminding myself, daily, of the value (counterintuitive as it may be) in sometimes lowering my expectations, in not demanding so awfully much of myself.

Lao Tzu, the sage author of the Tao Te Ching, puts it this way:

“Too much store
Is sure to end in immense loss.
Know contentment
And you will suffer no disgrace;
Know when to stop
And you will meet with no danger.
You can then endure.” (XLIV; 108)

Here’s to heeding Lao Tzu and “knowing contentment…”

photo credit: elusive.

Time flies! Here we are at the end of the year and for most individuals, it’s the end of the tax year.

A Dutchman was explaining the red, white, and blue of the Netherlands flag to an American. “Our flag is symbolic of our taxes. We get red when we talk about them, white when we get our tax bills, and blue after we pay them.”

The American nodded. “It’s the same in the USA only we see stars too!”

Yep, it’s always wise to think about reducing your tax liability and about taking actions to insure that you’re prepared when tax time comes around. Just as a business’s largest expense is usually labor, my largest expense (and probably yours) is taxes. Just this past year, the US economy spent 30.8 percent of its income on our tax burden (Federal, state, and local), more than food, clothing and housing combined according to The Tax Foundation.

How do I do MY taxes?

I use TaxCut from H&R Block Premium + State + E-File and have for 12 straight years. But this year, I’ll be using the TaxCut Online version. With it, I’ll be able to prepare and e-file both my federal and state return with just one program at the same time! Not only that, but I will also get one “Ask a Tax Adviser” session included and get H&R Block’s “Worry-free Audit Support” by using E-file. Simply put:

I trust TaxCut from H&R Block.

Here’s some year end tax saving strategies I plan to use

1. Review and potentially increase my spending in tax deductible areas.
There would include medical expenses, mortgage interest expenses, interest on student loans, un-reimbursed business expenses, or other related tax deductible expenses. If there’s anything that I can afford to pay in those areas, it makes tax sense to do it before year end.

2. Make a contribution to my Roth IRA.
The beauty of the Roth IRA is, though my contributions are not tax deductible, by making contributions with after tax money, all the growth accumulates tax free (under current laws).

3. Deduct expenses associated with my hobby … blogging.
If you have a hobby that brings in a small income, start treating it as a business. I can come up with considerable losses to offset my very small blogging income. I will treat it and file it as a small business to offset my other income.

4. Make some donations of cash and non-cash items.
We usually donate some cash and some clothing to various charities at this time of year and I see no reason for that to change! We just donated a 5 ft chest freezer to my church and we have a lot of used clothing we can donate to Goodwill. Hey! Every deduction counts!

The easiest way to build real wealth is to keep more of your own money. That means giving the IRS only what it expects when it expects it, and no more. So take some time to organize your finances, to understanding the truth about the IRS and tax deductions, and to know how to protect your assets from over-taxation. It will literally save you thousands of dollars every year and help you maximize your money on the income you are already making.

Technorati Tags: blog, charity, taxes, finance, finances, income, money, ira, irs, savings

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I thought I would share with you a few gifts we have received over the last couple Christmas seasons that have improved our frugal household. If you are still trying to decide what to get a frugal friend, you can’t go wrong with one of these selections. Note, a couple of these suggestions are not cheap, but will help you or a friend become more frugal.

TiVo Series2 80-Hour Dual Tuner DVR. We’ve had our TiVo for a couple years now, and I have to tell you it is one of the best purchases we have ever made (this was a present to ourselves). For a while we were renting a DVR from our cable company, and the digital service that went along with it. Then, I discovered TiVo.

I like the TiVo interface much more than the one that came with the cable box, and I like the fact that I own the machine outright. If I move, I can take it with me. If I want another one for the living room, I can buy one. No extra rental fees from the cable provider.

We have really cut back on television viewing, but enjoy the efficiency of watching a program on TiVo. Fast forwarding through commercials cuts way down on television viewing time. I also like the ability to log into my TiVo box from work, or on the road, and select a program to record via a web interface.

The Total Money Makeover. This one remains in my top two favorite personal finance books. Oddly enough, I heard the audio book first while commuting after accepting a new job in a new town. I was hooked, or “gazelle intense,” as author Dave Ramsey likes to say! I credit Dave, and this book, with helping turn around our financial lives.

The book is not overly complicated, is inspirational, and is written in a tone you’d expect from Dave Ramsey. It would make a great gift, and I recommend a copy for yourself if you have never read it.

Programmable Thermostat. Our utilities were out of control before switching to a programmable thermostat. We managed to shave nearly 20% off our utility expenses by allowing the night temperature to float up in the summer, and drop lower in the winter. Just before the alarm clocks go off each morning, the thermostat returns the inside temperature to a comfortable for the morning routine. A 5-1-1 or 5-2 model even allows you to set a different schedule for sleeping in a bit on the weekend (unless you have small kids). With utility costs continuing to rise, it won’t take long for this one to pay for itself.

Your Money or Your Life. I already mentioned The Total Money Makeover, but this book is my other favorite money book. It is the book that got me interested in the idea of personal finance to begin with, and it introduced the concept of financial independence. Written in the 1990s, the information is timeless and thought-provoking. When I read this book I finally made the connection between work, earnings, and life energy. I realized that trading my precious life energy to pay for additional stuff was simply not worth it–that I could enjoy a more simple way of like and work less for it.

Programmable 5.5 qt. Crock Pot. We stay pretty busy around the frugal household these days. A couple times a week we have after school activities and sports practices on the same night! Not much time for meal preparation on those days. And that is where our crock pot comes in handy.

Our favorite meal is a large pork roast rubbed with garlic salt and cooked slow all day in a crock pot and about a 1/2 cup - 1 cup of water. We have enough meat to slice for homemade barbecue sandwiches for days–delicious!

Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine Subscription. For one dollar a month (assuming a $12 annual subscription) you can get some of the best reporting on investments, taxes, insurance, paying for college, planning for retirement, home ownership, major purchases such as cars and computers and other personal finance topics. Over the years I have also subscribed to Money, Smart Money, and a host of other finance magazines, but Kiplinger’s remains my favorite.

Money Jar Bank. Think of this as a new-age piggy bank. It is essentially a sturdy, plastic jar with a special lid that contains an LCD display and keeps a running tally of your savings as coins are added. A word of warning, the jar contains small parts that may present a choking hazard for younger children. However, if you have an older child, and are interested in fostering their savings habit, this is a great gift idea.

Presto 22-inch Jumbo Electric Griddle. I mentioned that we stay busy and have little time cooking most weeknights. To further complicate matters, we are experiencing more cold, rainy weather than we are used to. This makes grilling outdoors tough. Our solution? An indoor griddle.

The griddle was given with the idea we could use it to make pancakes and breakfast foods, but we found it to be excellent for cooking slices of chicken, pork, and thin steaks indoors. As fattier meats cook the grease runs down into a drip container making meats a little healthier. Cleanup is a snap thanks to a non-stick surface.

Black & Decker Energy Saver Series Power Monitor. Here is one we don’t have, but it is on our Christmas list this year. I’ve become a bit obsessive about ways to cut our utility bills (yes, I admit it, I have a problem!). It hurts opening those huge energy bills in the extreme summer and winter. This gadget allows you to see the effect of each electrical appliance as they cycle on and off, and using info from your electric bill, you can estimate how much those appliances are costing you to operate.

Money Mammals. We were lucky enough to receive a copy of Money Mammals from the creator, and my kids really enjoyed it. In my review I posted here at Frugal Dad, I called Money Mammals the Little Einsteins for personal finance education for children. It remains a unique product, and would make a great gift for little ones on your Christmas list.

Post from: Frugal Dad

I love decorating for Christmas starting the first weekend after Thanksgiving. Something about all the food and family puts me in the mood to dust off the Christmas carols and start adorning our home with the spirit of the season.

We’ve got two basic guidelines for holiday decor:

1. If at all possible, make it by hand.
2. And no matter what, keep it simple.

In my opinion, with seasonal decorating, less is more. Your collection of vintage ornaments piled neatly in a glass vase and simple green wreath hung by grosgrain ribbon makes more of an impact than random Christmas crafts cluttered here and there.

As with everything else in your home, remember the classic quote for decorating for the holidays - “Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”

This weekend’s link love is all inspiration for your Christmas decor. And if you have more links to share, please do so in the comments.

• How to Hang a Wreath :: Nesting Place
• The Most Wonderful Christmas Garland Ever :: also Nesting Place
• Simple Holiday Decorating :: Blissfully Domestic
• Reinventing What You Have for Seasonal Decorating :: HomeGoods (written by Melissa of The Inspired Room)
• 5 Minute Holiday Decorating Ideas :: Real Simple
• Holiday Curb Appeal :: Cottage Living
• 1-Day Christmas Makeover :: Better Homes and Gardens
• How to Make a 3D Paper Snowflake :: Persipacious
• Paper Snowflakes :: Instructables
• All Christmas :: Flickr
• Christmas Project archives :: ReadyMade
• Mammoth List of Festive Tutorials :: Whip Up

Alright… Now you add to the mix!

• Shabby Apple Dresses - women's dresses, girl's dresses, fashion accessories


• Layla Grayce - love your life, express your style


• List Plan It - download your organized life... even for Christmas

Related posts:

1. Use Your Nose, and Other Decor Inspiration - upcoming series on Simple Mom I like to decorate. I don't have bags of money...
2. Enjoy a Simple Christmas With a Well-Planned Budget Photo by Alenxandre Duret-Lutz I'll be quite honest -...
3. Holidays By Hand: Celebrate the Season With Your Sewing Skills Photo by Debbie Hill Head here to enter the...

I hope everyone is getting the chance to have a few days off on this holiday weekend.  I’ve been fortunate enough to have some time away from my regular job which has been nice.  Thankfully, there are several fantastic articles out there for me to read!  If you have the time you should check these out too.  There is always something new to learn and explore!

Links for Super-Charged Living

Here’s this week’s awesome articles in each key characteristic of super-charged living:

1. Strives for Excellence
   Bringing New Consciousness to Old Habits
   5 Wonderful Ways to Waste Your Time, Focus and Life
2. Financially Wise
   Three Reasons Cash is King
   The M-Network Presents New E-Book Of Money Saving Tips For The Holidays 
3. Committed to a Cause
   “You Shouldn’t Have!” Gift Giving Theories To Simplify Your Life
   Traveling During The Holidays: 10 Tips For Making It Easier With Kids
4. Leadership by Example
   The Importance of Celebrating Your Success
   The Simple Guide to Staying Out of Office Politics 
5. Entrepreneurial Spirit
   13 Strategies For Spending Less While Growing Your Business
   How to Keep Your Writing or Marketing Pitch Out of the Trashcan 
6. Continual Learner
   How to Get Someone or Something, Off Your Mind
   10 Economic Truths We Cannot Ignore
7. Adventurous
   How To Make Your Hostel Less Hostile
   Smarten Up! Perfect Your Travels By Becoming an Expert

I hope you have a super-charged weekend!  Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think of the links.

Photo by GlobeTrotter 2000

1. Assess your needs. Look at the ways you use technology in your home. Take a week and monitor how often you are on the phone, watching television, or surfing the net. Once you see how much time you are using these services, compare it to your plan. Many people have access to high-speed Internet at work, making it unnecessary to pay for high-speed bells and whistles at home. The key is to avoid paying for excess.

2. Downgrade. Once you assess your needs, get rid of services that you aren’t fully using. Are you downloading video and playing games or just checking email and sports scores on the Internet? If it’s the latter, it doesn’t make sense to pay for a high-end, super-fast Internet connection. A less expensive but safe and reliable service such as dial-up service – which some providers offer with a special Accelerator option – may be just what you need.

The same applies to your cable bill. Do you need the premium channels or DVR? Better yet, if you can watch most of your favorite shows online or you predominately watch shows on only a few channels, you may be able to downgrade your service to a cheaper plan. Be honest about what you really need, and don’t pay for services you aren’t using to their fullest potential.

3. Take advantage of freebies. Look for companies that offer free services. Some Internet providers offer free virus protection, which saves you from buying costly software yourself. Others offer free spam protection and other security enhancements, a good bet if you’re looking to maximize savings and still surf safely. Also, leverage your Web access by surfing special cost-savings sites, like www.pricegrabber.com,